Wal-Mart and the US Economy

The Wal-Mart company, the world's largest retailer and second-largest corporation, is a dominant US business. This study investigates whether there are significant long-run relationships between the business of Wal-Mart and the overall US economy as measured by an array of traditional macro-level variables. Cointegration analysis reveals that Wal-Mart sales generally move counter to overall economic conditions, dampened in more prosperous economic periods and buoyed in more sluggish economic environments. Consequently, trends in Wal-Mart sales may serve as a rather non-traditional contrarian economic bellwether. Eastern Economic Journal (2009) 35, 297–308. doi:10.1057/eej.2008.19